Note to self:

After removing items from their packaging so that they’ll fit inside very cramped freezers, it is a good idea to write down the cooking instructions.

Hmmm. Breaded chicken things. 25mins @ 200? Yeah, maybe.

“Take a Bow”, from Muse’s new album ‘Black Holes and Revelations’, begins with:

Corrupt, you corrupt, bring corruption to all that you touch.

Hold, you’ll behold, and behold and for all that you’ve done.

And spell, cast a spell, cast a spell on the country you run.

And risk, you will risk, you will risk all their lives and their souls.

And burn, you will burn,
You will burn in hell, yeah you’ll burn in hell.
You’ll burn in hell, yeah you’ll burn in hell for your sins.

Our freedom’s consuming itself.
What we’ve become is contrary to what we want.
Take a bow.

I listened to this yesterday and suddenly wondered whether it was political commentary about Tony Blair. I then decided I was reading way too much into things, and wondered why it had occurred to me. Perhaps because every news organisation in the country is blasting the same story 24/7? There’s apparently nothing else happening.

We’ve got ‘allies of Tony Blair’ making statements, we’ve got ’sources close to Gordon Brown’ making statements. Just now Defence Minister Tom Watson resigned, saying that it’s no longer in the country’s interest for Tony Blair to stay. Letters flying around. Counter-statements from cabinet members. It’s filling the news, and it’s all utter crap.

If you want Tony Blair to go because of Iraq, say so. If you want time for a successor to take control, say so. If you think he’s a liability in the polls, say so. But all this crap about ‘it’s not in the country’s best interests’, or ‘uncertainty is making us nervous’ doesn’t mean anything. Why, exactly? How does not knowing when Tony Blair is going to quit make any difference to the workings of government?

There may well be reasons, but it’s not like this is all that important, is it? Sorry to lapse into cliche, but there are still starving children in the UK, aren’t there? There’s actual work to do, and all this makes it look like the politicians are far more obsessed with themselves. Because that wasn’t the stereotype already.

From the outside it seems like half the Labour party are trying to figure out who to ally themselves with before the next election. Nothing here is in the country’s best interests, it’s entirely self-centred politicking. Yes, it’s important that the party have debates over leadership, but it shouldn’t supersede everything else on the agenda - it’s far more necessary that that there be a leader out there and working. If you’re a defence minister, isn’t that quite an important job? Why the hell are you resigning over something so goddamn trivial? What good does that do anybody? Maybe if he spoke out he’d lose his job anyway, and if so that’s insane, but resigning? It’s like running the country comes second to playground games.

It seems like every political party is incapable of doing anything related to the leadership without this kind of nonsense. Can’t political parties run themselves better than local golf clubs? It’s boring, petty and demeaning, and I’d hoped Labour would be above it.

Years ago I ate a deep-fried Mars bar after a challenge from my secondary school science teacher. You’d think I’d have learnt, but in the last five days I have ordered both ‘deep-fried custard buns’:

and ‘deep-fried ice cream’:

I guess I was just intrigued by the concepts. I managed one custard bun and half of the ice cream. I don’t want any batter ever again.

*mouth drops open*

…to my parents, married 25 years ago today. Obviously the best times began just over 23 years ago, but just because the time between seems paltry in comparison doesn’t make it any the less worthwhile.

I never know what to do when the customer support desk hasn’t understood what you’re asking them to do, but think they have. You try to explain, but it makes no difference. Do you ask for somebody else and risk annoying them? I just put the phone down having achieved absolutely nothing, after it became clear that anything I said was making no difference. It’s ridiculous because it’s only a configuration issue and should be something I could adminster from a web interface, but that doesn’t seem to be possible…Grump grump grump. Ignore me, I’m just cross that something which should have taken half an hour has so far taken three.

SNAKES!!! On a PLANE!!!

I can’t believe Steve Irwin died! He was great. I think ITV used to broadcast his show on Saturday afternoons, and I always liked his enthusiasm for the subject. I seem to remember him frequently darting behind rocks when he spotted a wild animal, then making the cameraman squeeze in next to him, which made me laugh. I always wanted to see his film, which is described by the imdb as:

Aussie adventurer Steve Irwin - a.k.a. “The Crocodile Hunter” is out to save a gorgeous croc and relocate him. What The Steve doesn’t know is that the Crocodile has innocently swallowed a top secret U.S. satellite beacon, and some CIA agents sent to retrieve it. Steve mistakes the CIA agents for poachers and sets out to stop them from capturing the Crocodile.

I remember cracking up in the cinema when the trailer showed Steve meeting a fictional US president. He clearly didn’t take himself too seriously.

Apparently he was hit by a Stingray’s barb while filming in Australia. It wasn’t so much the poison in the barb as that it pierced his heart, which is incredibly rare. Sad

On Friday my chum Ben and I bought a photo frame as a gift for a friend’s housewarming party, and decided it was terribly boring to leave it empty. After pondering for a while, we remembered a recent Photojojo newsletter which had introduced the wonderful concept of jowling. The idea is to ask someone to loosen their facial muscles and shake their head from side to side, then take a photo. So we did, with the camera on a timer.

After half an hour and *many* fits of the giggles we had a truly unique housewarming gift I’ll spare Ben the embarrassment, but am told that my outtakes are too insane not to share…

Don’t have nightmares, kids.

I was just in Waterstones and overheard:

Teenage boy: Did you know they’re filming a Doctor Who scene in Stratford?
Slightly taller, less likeable teenage boy: Yeah, like I care

I care! Can’t find any info on the web - shall check the local papers. Hopefully it wasn’t just something they made up

Wonderful medicine:

Two men have been cured of cancer, after being told they had 3-6 months to live. This was done by altering the body’s defence mechanisms so that they attacked cancerous cells:

Dr Stephen Rosenberg and his team isolated T cells from the cancer patients and multiplied them in the lab.

Next they used a virus to carry receptor genes into the T cells. These receptors are what enable the modified T cell to recognise specific cancers - in this case malignant melanoma.

When the modified T cells were transfused into the patients they began to attack the tumour cells.

15 other patients in the trial were not so lucky, but this is apparently a very promising procedure.

Disastrous medicine:

Previously, homeopathic ‘remedies’ were required to say “Homeopathic medicinal product without approved therapeutic indications” on the label. From today, however, the labels can instead claim to ‘treat’ medical conditions. According to Bad Science:

All you need is evidence of manufacturing quality and safety, and “bibliographic evidence that the product has been used in the indications sought”.

What you don’t need, of course, is any evidence that your tablets treat the thing you’re selling them as treating.

Homeopathy is theoretical and demonstrable nonsense. There is no rational argument to the contrary, and it’s unbelievable that this regulatory change has been made. The government body who made the decision to market magic as medicine describe themselves as follows (my emphasis):

[The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] is the government agency that is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe. We keep watch over medicines and devices, and we take any necessary action to protect the public promptly if there is a problem. No product is risk-free. Underpinning all our work lie robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits to patients and the public justify the risks.

That’s clearly untrue.

Skuds reported earlier this week on nine firefighters who were disciplined after refusing to hand out fire safety leaflets at a gay pride march. According to the BBC:

Some of the firefighters involved had argued it would be embarrassing for them to turn up in uniform to the Pride Scotia event, while others claimed it would contradict their moral beliefs.

At least the ‘moral beliefs’ argument is honest, if stupid. ‘Embarrassing’? What this really means is ‘people might think we’re gay’. The only way it would be embarrassing to turn up in uniform would be if you think there’s something wrong with being homosexual, so let’s just say what this really is: your basic homophobia, bordering on outright bigotry.

It’s entirely correct that the fire service should punish the firefighters involved. If you take a job, you have made an agreement to do whatever that job entails. If you are required to do something with which you disagree, you’re free to argue, but not to opt-out. You’re also free to leave.

Who could possibly disagree with this? Who would dare publicly support the firefighters? What organisation could be so morally bankrupt that they would support such monstrous anti-gay sentiment? Ah yes: the Roman Catholic Church¹. Says Glasgow Archbishop Mario Conti:

“They were asked, while in uniform, to hand out leaflets during a demonstration where they had legitimate concerns about being the subject of taunts and jokes, and in which in some cases, their religious sensibilities would have been grossly offended by people dressed as priests and nuns lampooning the Church.”

We can’t have people’s religious sensibilities being offended, can we? That would mean, um, that people would be offended. And that would mean, um, that, you know, um, it’s just bad, ok? Don’t give me that crap. It’s obvious why they’re wading in, and it’s appalling.

It’s tempting to think that we should all just ignore such bigots and they’ll go away, but I don’t think that’s true. I hope the fire service comes back with a strong statement disagreeing with the church’s position.

1. it is regularly pointed out to me that the RCC only abhors homosexuality, they still respect homosexuals as people. If anybody ever figures out how this makes any sense at all, please let me know [↩]